Imagine, in this day and
age any new—much less established record
label—releasing their recordings in redbook, high-rez
digital, LP and that absolutely prehistoric medium,
15 ips/2 track reel-to-reel tapes? Are they out of
their minds? "Absolutely not," maintains Bob Attiyeh,
audiophile (some might argue that attending 50-60
concerts a year disqualifies him as an audiophile),
owner, producer, engineer and general all around
chief cook and bottlewasher for Yarlung Records.
"Tape has," according to Bob, "always been and still
remains my favorite medium." Furthermore, "Every
time he [Bob] hears them [tapes], he is reminded
why." And all it takes is one listen to this trio of
Yarlung tapes to understand why Bob holds tape in
such high esteem!

Recording Philosophy

So just who is this
upstart record label? Founded five years ago by Bob
Attiyeh, Yarlung Records offers an interesting mix
of non-audiophile, contemporary classical composers
such as Penderecki and Lutoslawski, relatively
newcomers to the composing scene such as Charles
Stuckey and Jason Barabba in addition to fare from
Beethoven, Bach and de Falla. The first release from
the Yarlung label was David Fung's Evening
Considerations and their catalog now numbers
sixteen (and counting) releases.

When it comes to the
recording end of the business, Bob is a firm
believer in minimalist microphoning techniques.
"Simple microphoning," according to Bob, "gives the
listener, the most transparent sound, the most
accurate soundstage and the most life-like ambiance
of these great artists in a concert hall." Inspired
by the work of Robina Young (Harmonia Mundi) and the
late, great Wilma Cozart Fine (Mercury Records), Bob
favors recording simplicity as well as recording in
a real hall vs. a studio. The quality of
these recordings is made possible in part Bob added,
"by being lucky perhaps, to live in a Golden era…in
a city with five or six great sounding concert
halls."

Yarlung, as so often
done by many record labels at the dawn of the
digital era, records each session in parallel using
both analog tape and 176.4/24 high-rez digital. For
the analog versions of Lysy at the Broad,
Dialoghi and Janaki String Trio
recordings, Bob used a Revox A700 reel-to-reel tape
deck (with stock heads and transport ) outfitted
with Len Horowitz and Robert Hovland modified
electronics (future Yarlung Recordings, Bob shared,
will use Arian Jansen's new highly modified, tube
based, SonoruS ATR10/ Revox PR99 machine). The rest
of the recording chain consisted of customized
vacuum tube preamplifiers, no mixer and short, 5
foot runs of Yarlung's own, custom designed,
stranded silver interconnects.

Capturing the sound of
the instruments was a vintage 1969, AKG C-24 stereo
tube microphone complete with the original brass
surround CK12 tube, courtesy of Gearworks Pro Audio.
As some may already know, a recording engineer can
select among several different pickup patterns (such
as cardioid, Figure 8 and angles in between) with
the C24 microphone. Bob, however, isn't wedded to
any particular microphone pattern and instead
chooses the right spacing for each individual
recording session. Each pattern is checked and
rechecked by ear, an arduous process often requiring
the better part of a day; in the end, Bob usually
doesn't reach a separation of 90 degrees.

Rediscovering the
Reel

While Otari is the only
manufacturer currently turning out new decks,
there's certainly no shortage of used professional
and pro-sumer decks from Studer, Ampex, Revox,
Technics, etc. (as well as ample supply of
new and improved heads and parts) on the used
market. Many tapeheads (yours truly included),
unhappy with the sound of the stock ‘70s-ish
solid-state electronics in these machines,
completely gut and rebuild their decks. These
modifications consist of everything from modifying
the tape path to hard wiring the playback heads and
using external state-of-the-art tube or solid-state
tape preamplifiers to adding professional quality
playback and/or record heads.

Today's resurgence of
interest, so to speak, in the reel-to-reel playback
format, unfortunately, suffers from the cart being
put before the horse. Just as happened with the
introduction of SACD and DVD-audio, hardware
availability outstripped software supply. Consumers,
frustrated with the lack of high resolution
recordings to spin on their new equipment, were slow
to adopt these formats. And unfortunately, much the
same scenario is happening with reel-to-reel tape
decks.

While most audiophile
labels are sitting on the sidelines (one notable
exception being Reference Recordings who have
licensed several of their recordings to The Tape
Project), Bob and Yarlung Records have put their
money where their mouth is—and stepped up to the
plate and delivered a home run with these real-time
duped, pure analog based, reel-to-reel tapes. Each
album consists of a single 10-inch metal reel
(because of both playing time and cost constraints)
and contains excerpts from the original CD or LP
release. Bob has promised, however, if there's
enough demand, he'll release the other musical
selections from each of the albums on an
accompanying reel. While the tape packaging and
presentation isn't up to the high standards set by
The Tape Project, each tape comes in a blue RPG box
(SM468 tape) replete with very professionally laid
out liner notes and pictures.

This 10-inch reel
showcases the music of noted Argentinean composers
Astor Piazzolla, Alberto Ginastera and Lalo
Schifrin. Antonio Lysy (son of noted Argentinean
violinist Alberto Lysy), set out to as explained in
the accompanying notes on this recording, "capture
the cultural range of this country in our recording.
These particular works draw from the folk music
traditions of Argentina." In addition, "these works
highlight the cello as a solo instrument and the
impact of pre-Hispanic Amerindian traditions and
Spanish based Creole influences as well as the
effect of more modern musical developments like the
tango on Argentine composers."

The musical and sonic
highlight of this recording is unquestionably
renowned composer, conductor and pianist Lalo
Schifrin's (probably best known for his award
winning theme to Mission Impossible) 2010 Latin
Grammy award winning piece "Pampas." As described by
Schifrin, "I tried to convey the vastness of the
plains between the South of the Buenos Aires
province and the Patagonia, which is called the
Pampas. Pampas is a sad and dark piece
complete with a gorgeous, dynamic interplay between
the piano and cello.

Two of the other pieces
on this release, and a bit larger scale works with
Paul Motta on bass and the Capitol Ensemble in
addition to Lysy and Pezzone , were written by the
renowned Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla.
"Oblivion," composed in 1982 as a chamber ensemble,
is one of Astor Piazzolla's most well known pieces.
"Le Grand Tango," written in 1982 for cello and
piano, was dedicated by Astor Piazzolla to Russian
cellist, Mtislav Rostropovitch and in fact,
premiered by the world renowned cellist in New
Orleans in 1990.

Last but not least is
the piece from Alberto Ginastera, considered by many
to be one of the most important South American
composers of the 20th century.
Triste
is a popular Argentinean song originating fromKechuaIndians
of unrequited love and features the collaboration of
Antonio Lysy on cello and Bryan
Pezzone on piano.

Sonically, this (and the
two other Yarlung recordings), are relatively
closely miked placing the listener in the front of
the hall, rows A-D. That's not a negative, however,
since most people don't sit in the middle to back of
the hall for small scale music. In fact, this
recording brings back memories of when I sat
literally 6 feet away from Starker's cello during a
rehearsal concert years ago. What is most striking,
and one of the big differences between 15 ips tape
and LPs/CDs, is the effortlessness recreation of the
sound of each instrument, regardless of dynamic
level. There's no tomfoolery going on in the low
end, compression, rolling off or mono-ing of
channels.

Of the four pieces on
this tape, Cinco Canciones, Le Grand Tango
and Pampas are a little better sounding than
Oblivion. Lysy is seated front and center
with little image wander. His cello is ever so
clean, quick and enveloped in ambient soundfield.

Because of the close
miking, there's an incredible sense of transparency
and the tension of Lysy's bow gliding over the cello
strings. Le Grand Tango finds the instruments
arranged slightly differently and with a narrower
stage.

Yarlung definitely saved
for the last here. On very simple Schifrin piece,
both piano and cello occupy their own space on the
stage and one can actually "see" and sense the
distance and air between the two instruments. Both
instruments possess extraordinary great clarity, low
distortion and unrestrained dynamics, imparting a
sad feeling to the music.

This is one recording to
pick up on tape and if not, certainly on LP or your
favorite digital format.

Dialoghi features
the playing of American born cellist Elinor Frey
accompanied by Australian born pianist David Fung.
Martin Perlich in the accompanying liner notes aptly
describes Dialoghi as being, "about
contrasts: and "the music on this album reveals
dialogues in many forms, often dialogues within
dialogues…conversations between cello and piano,
folk music and high art …"

Spooled up on the deck,
we have three short and relatively unknown pieces
accompanied by a classical warhorse. The recording
starts out with Lutoslawski's haunting Grave,
a piece for piano and cello, written for good friend
and music critic, Stefan Jarocinski. Based on
Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande, particularly
the opera's Forest Scene, Grave is a contrast
of the cello against the piano's harmonies.
Following the Lutoslawski is the classic and one of
my favorite compositions, Bach's Suite No.1 for
solo cello, a piece that often signifies a
cellist's rite of passage. And Frey navigates this
tortuous piece in style! Following Bach's Suites
for Solo Cello is the world premiere of Steven
Stucky's Dialoghi, written for Elinor Frey.
Last but not least is Manuel de Falla's lovely
short, haunting and melancholy piece Nana
(lullaby) from Siete Canciones Populares
Espanolas (1914).

A sonic blockbuster,
Dialoghi exudes bass clarity, tonality and
dynamics. Stucky's Dialoghi really shows off
the wonderful tone of Elinor's 1962 Mario Gadda
Italian Cello from Mantua and accompanying baroque
bow. On the Bach piece, there is little of that
center image wander so often heard on other cello
recordings. Tonally, this tape leans just ever so
slightly to the dry side; for some reason, the
soundstage is slightly narrower than on the other
two tapes.

The debut album for
Janaki String trio is far and away the best, both
from a musical and sonic perspective, of these three
Yarlung tapes. Far from the normal, traditional
audiophile fare, the Janaki Trio performs works from
Pendererecki, Beethoven and Barabba on this ten inch
reel. The Trio's New York debut on the CAG Series at
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall was praised by
NY Times music critic Alan Koznin, who described the
Trio's performance as "magnificently polished" and
exhibiting "an irresistible electricity."

Penderecki's StringTrios is a Janacki Trio's staple having
performed the piece at Weill Hall to accolades back
in 2007. Scored for violin, viola and cello,
Penderecki's String Trios is somewhat of a
contrast with its brash opening turning into lyrical
beauty and winding its way back to brash. No less
impressive is the Trio's commissioned rendition of
the middle two movements, in particular violinist
Serena McKinney's wonderful playing on LA based
composer, Jason Barabba's "Obstinate Spaces."

Of the three reels
reviewed here, the Janacki String Trio's recording
is really the finest of the three tapes. To begin
with, there's a much wider soundstage on this
recording than the previous two tapes. Next, the
tonal faithfulness of each instrument is extremely
striking ranging from the richer sound of the viola
to the edgier sound of the violin. Strings have a
real naturalness and even the high strings never
stray into the land of stridency; pizzicato are
stunningly rendered with extraordinary crispness.
The rich tone of Katie Kadarauch's Giovanni
Grancion's viola (1695) is absolutely stunning
sounding, making one hanker for more pieces written
for the viola. Each player is surrounded and
encompassed by a feeling of air and space. Finally,
there's an amazing sense of transparency that allows
the listener to easily visualize the violin, viola
and cello in the "minds eye."

The Janacki String
Trio is among the finest tapes I've heard and
encourage every tapehead to add this recording to
their library.